Stimulus Money in Vermont Will Not be Used for Asbestos Removal

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it has granted nearly $20 million to the state of Vermont.

A portion of the money will go towards cleaning water supplies, while the remaining millions will be allocated to deal with emissions from diesel engines.

The bulk of the money pay for improvements in public drinking water by reducing the amount of pollution that enters the environment.

Conspicuously absent from the list of environmental improvements is asbestos abatement. Other states have planned to use their EPA grants for asbestos abatement, including Montana.

Asbestos made headlines in and around Vermont only weeks ago, after suspicions were raised that 5 people had developed asbestos-related disease and died. All five Vermonters lived near an abandoned asbestos mine in the northern part of the state.

Officials now believe the people contracted the diseases at their places of employment, and not from proximity to the mine. However, an earlier study found that residents who lived near the abandoned mine had higher-than-normal rates of asbestosis, a chronic inflammatory disease which scars the lungs and can lead to respiratory failure.

The asbestos issues in Vermont mimic those of the town of Libby, Montana, home to the now-closed W. R. Grace vermiculite mine. A number of residents - many that worked in the mine before it closed - have developed asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, and chronic respiratory issues.

Despite an alleged lack of action on the part of the state of Vermont, the story has brought the dangers of asbestos to the forefront of environmental awareness in the state.

Asbestos is the only confirmed cause of mesothelioma cancer. When inhaled, the toxic asbestos fibers can work their way into the soft tissues of the body, leading to a variety of asbestos-related diseases.

Asbestos can be found in buildings, landfills, and abandoned properties all over Vermont.

In fact, a 1979 survey of Vermont schools found that 75 percent of the buildings constructed between 1946 and 1974 contained the deadly carcinogen.

Across the country, over 30 million residences contain asbestos in the form of attic insulation and other building materials.